Cap badge Queens Royal West Surrey (Queen's) Regiment (plastic)

The 1/5th, 1/6th, and 1/7th were all 1st Line Territorial Army battalions that were serving in the 131st Infantry Brigade, which was a part of the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division, a 1st Line Territorial Army division. The brigade was sent, along with the rest of the division, to France in 1940 to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and were quickly involved in the Battle of France and subsequent Dunkirk evacuation. They arrived in England and the division was led for a while by Major-General Brian Horrocks. The division was later sent to North Africa in mid-1942 to join the British Eighth Army and fought in the Battle of Alam el Halfa and later in the Second Battle of El Alamein where the 131st Brigade was assigned to the 7th Armoured Division and would remain with them for the rest of the war.^[69] The brigade participated in the Tunisian and Italian Campaigns and the North West Europe Campaign. In December 1944, due to heavy casualties and a shortage of infantrymen in the British Army, the 1/6th and 1/7th Battalions were replaced by 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment and 9th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, both from the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division. The 1/6th and 1/7th would spend the rest of the war as training units with the 50th Infantry Division